Electric-circuit controller.



R. H. MANSON.

ELECTRIC 011mm CONTROLLER.

APPLICATION FILED 13110.27, 1909 1,047,260, Patented Deb. 17, 1912.

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ELECTRIC CIRCUIT CONTROLLER.

APPLICATION FILED DBO. 27, 1909.

1' 1,047,260, Patented Dec. 17,1912

2 SHEETS SHEET 2. 2 1: 5 f i F1} 5 inn-inn ernirne PATENT mm RAY H. MANSON, OF ELYRIA, OHIO, AS$IGNOR TO THE DEAN ELECTRIC COMPANY, OF ELYRIA, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF OHIO.

ELECTRIC-CIR'CUIT CONTROLLER.

onger).

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dee..17, 1912.

and use the same.

l\[ imention relates to circuit coutrollOl'S orswit hes tor elet'tric circuits' one'ot my intentions in to produce a circuit controller haring; a safety appliance protecting it against injury from operations under ahnormal eomlitionsor at inopportune times. With this aim in riew, l disclose. such a cireuit controller which may he'locked, and, if

an etlort is made to operate it. when so locked, such etl'ortv will not: etl'eet any injury to the. mechanism. to some uses to which eireuit UIIlI lltl'S of this type are put, it is desirable to provide a. lock so that the meehauion thereof may be secured against operatimrhy unauthorized persons; for exnluple, in the circuits controlling the opertr tion of self-propelled vehicles, etc. In such use it sometimes happens that ineuntious or unauthorized persons endeavor to operate. such switches when so locked, the effect be ing sutlieient tohrenk some part of the switch or .l()(l\'ltlg.ll'ltCllttlllSlll. One mechanism I'hare. devised for preventing this and which I disclose, consists in making the eireuit controlling mechanism of two parts One. of

the. parts engages the contacts in the circuit; the. other is accessible to the operator,

and adapted to he. thrown by him and to transmit. the'motion to the other part. The elastic means serving to couple the two parts, is still enough to transmit motion under normal coriditimis from one of these parts to the other, so that. the contacts are operated in response to the throw. \Vhen the mechanism is locked, the elastic means will permit relative movement between the parts so that movement. of the power trans milling memher will cause. that part. to move without :itlectiiig the contact. operating part, neither operating the. contacts nor injuring the mechanism.

switch.

I find this circuit controller especially adapted for use in foot-operated switches and particularly on automobiles or other appnrat'us designed to be usedby the general puhlie who are. unfamiliar with the mechanism of such devices, or, are at times, inconsequential.

Another advantage of my invention is to produce a switch which will indicate to the operator that the mechanism is locked if he undertakes to operate it when so locked. I a -o1nplisli this' in the .structure disclosed, as, owing to the ditlerent amounts of power required to perform the, work of operating the switch and that required to overcome the elastieitv of the coupling spring, the oper ator is apprised of the locked condition of the mechanism if he undertakes to throw the switch when locked.

Other. improvement and other purposes of my invention will be better understood from the detailed description t hereof when the same is taken in connection with the d rn wings.

t have. disclosed 'lny' irweLntion in connection with a particular form'of lighting circuit, not that l intend to be limited thereto, hut in order to make the operation clearer.

Figure 1 is a cross-section through the riew shown in Fig. 9. Fig. 2 is a front ele- \uthm of the. switch hook with the devices which control the contacts innn electric cir veuit which is shown diagrammatically. Fig.

3 is a frugmental side elevation of the Fig. l. is a fragmentnl front elevation ol the. s\-\'ite.hflocked. Fig. 5 is a front elevation showing the switch locked and the parts in a position which they as sume when an effort is made to operatethc switeh when so locked. Fig. (i is a. froiit elevation of a modified form of the switch. Fig. 7 is a side elevation of this modification.

Refer-ring to the drawings and to the embodiment of my invention there shown, I hare illustrated :1 base member Z to which a front. Y is fastened. A relay controlling an electric switch 3-4.- is mounted on the hose. together with a. second switch consisting of. the springs l and 2. On the top of the front Y I show an electricla'mp 8 which is controlled over an electric circuit shown diagrammatically and including the con.-

tacts of the switches, the relay 5 and the second lamp 6. In the form shown the spring t is actedupon directly by the magnet 5 serving as an armature therefor. I show a source of current 7 inthis circuit.

- At. S I show a circuit controlling mechanism which consists of a part adapted to transmit powerfrom the operator or operating means. This part is made up of a handle f having a button 11 at one end and being bent over into a; U-shaped member at 20 and extending down into a second limb 30. The limbs f and are perforated and the whole member is pivoted through these perforations upon a pin .H projecting through the bottom ofthe base Z. From the limb) a pin 18 projects engaging a sec ond pin 31whichprojects from the base in the'path of'movement of the pin 18'. A coil spring E is wound around that part'of the pin H which 'liesbetween the limbs f and 30.

The ends 16 and .17 of this spring are carried up to embrace the horizontal part 20 of the part 7 f. A second part which is adapted to engage and operate the switch contacts when moved by the part f, is shown at G. This is also a U-sha-ped'member consisting of two limbs g andg and a connecting portion15. The limbs 16;and-17' of the spring also embrace the horizontal portion 15 of the 'part- Gr, serving. to'} couple these two members to-getherwhen they are actuated under normal conditions. Each of the limbs g and g' is-carried up into projections 13 and 14. Between these projections fiber rollers A and B are journaled upon pins secured in the projections. The

Ispring 2Iis creased at 9 and. l0, as shown, to

receive the roller-Apthe spring retaining the roller and'the pa'rtG in the 'positionjto which it hasv been thrown when the roller rests in one of these creases. I The roller B is adapted to engage the spring 4: of the switch R to close it' when the part f is.

t-hrown'to its extreme right hand position. The pin 3201? the projection 13 extends forward at P as shown. At M I show" a lock.

of clearer, I will. describe its operation in connection with the circuit shown in Fig. 2. The lamp 6 serves as a signal lamp. The lamp 8 serves as a guard lamp to indicate when the signal is in operation. -I desire to first light the lamp 6 placing the lamp 8 under control thereof, and test the lamp 8 to ascertain if it is in working condition. Assuming the circuit controller to be unlocked, I throw the part f to the right by kicking it with the foot. This will close the switch D, completing the circuit through battery 7, switch D, the relay 5, and lamp 6. When the part f is in this position, the part B is out of the path of the spring 4, so that when the relay 5 is energized, it pulls up its armature, opening the switch R in the circuit of the lamp 8. The part f may be thrown farther to the right and when thrown to its extreme right hand position, the roller B engages the end of the'spring 4 of the switch R, overcoming the attractive force ofthe electromagnet, closing the switch R and lighting the lamp 8. This is done for the purpose of testing the lamp 8 to ascertain whether or not it is operating. I/Vhen the part f is released, the joint action of the spring 2. and the magnet 5 operating against the spring 4 returns the part f to the second or intermediate position. where it remains. To lock the circuit controller in either position, the bolt N is thrown down, engaging the pin P. If an eifort is then made to operate the circuit controller, the spring E will give, permitting the limbs 16 and 17 to separate, as shown in Fig. 5. Neither the switch will be operated nor the mechanism injured as a consequence of. this movement. The stiffness of the spring E is greater than that or the spring 2, so that it' takes more power to b'e nd it, always insuring the operation of thefswitch springs unless the part G- is abnormallyf retarded, which will be the case, for example, when the lock is operated; This superior stiffness will indicate to. the operator the locked ce adition of the mechanism. As the retainingi means operates upon the part G, the part f will be immediately returned to its normal position by the spring E if an effort is made to operate the circuit con-' troller when locked. It will thus be seen that the principal function of the spring E is to transmit or permit the transmission of motion from the part f to the part G when the same is unlocked and to permit relative movement between the two when the part G is locked. 4 In Figs. 6 and 7 I show amodified form which is adapted to operate one of two sets of contacts when thrown in either direction. In this case the lock bolt/N is thrown down between the two arms 18 and 19 upon the part GI In "general, the functions and lbs operation of the parts arerthe same as in the preferred form.

While I have shown only these two forms of my invention, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that numerous and extensive departures from the form and detalls of the apparatus here shown may be made without departing from the splrit of the part and elastic means between said parts 2 adapted to transmit motion from one to the other, said elastic means permitting relative movement between said parts when said locking means is operative.

2. In an electric circuit controller, a contact operating part adapted to be moved to a normal and an active position means for locking said part in either position, a power transmitting part, elastic means between said parts, said means adapted to transmit.

motion between said parts when the former is unlocked and adapted to permit relative -motion therebetween when said circuit controlling part is locked in either position.

3. In an electric circuit controller, a contact operating part adapted to be moved to a normal and to an active position, means forjlocking said part in either position, a power transmitting part, a spring member between said parts adapted to transmit motion from the one to the other when said locking means is inoperative and adapted to permit relative movement therebetween when said locking means is operated.

4. In an electric circuit controller, a contact operating part having a normally inactive position, a second or first circuit controlling position and a third or second circuit controlling position, means for locking said part in said first two positions, a power transmitting part, elastic means between said parts adapted t. transmit motion therebetween when said locking means is inoperative and adapted to permit relative movement between said parts when said locking means is operated.

5. In an electric circuit controller, a contact operating part having a normally inactive position, a second or first circuit controlling position and a third or second circuit controlling position, means for locking said part in said first two positions,ap0wer transmitting part, aspring member between said parts adapted to transmitmotion therebctween when said locking means is inoperative and adapted to permit relative movemcnt between said parts when said locking means operated.

(i. In an electric circuit controller, a contact operating part adapted to assume a normall; inactive position, an electric switch, said part adapted to assume a second position to operate said switch, a second electric switch said part adapted to assume a third position to operate said second switch, means for locking said part in the first two of said positions, a power transmitting part, a spring member between said parts adapted to transmit movement therebetween when said locking means is inoperative and adapted to permit relative movement between said parts when the locking means is operated.

7. In an electric circuit controller, a contact operating part adapted to assume three positions. means for retaining said part in two of said positions, means for locking said part in two of said positions, a power transmitting part and elastic means between said parts adapted to transmit motion from one to the other against the resistance of the retaining means but ineffectual to so transmit motion against the resistance of the locking means.

8. In an electric circuit controller, a contact operating part adapted to assume two positions. means for retaining said part in said positions, means for locking said part in said positions, a power transmitting part, elastic means coupling said parts and adapted to transmit movement therebe-' tween against the resistance of the retaining means but ineffectual to overcome the resistance of the locking means.

In testimony whereof I allix my signa ture in presence of two witnesses.

RAY H. MANSON.

Witnesses F. L. CLARK, \V. J. H. Orion. 

